Mike Whaley: Red Raiders are back in the mix

The end of the 2010-11 hockey season and the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign tested the resolve of the Spaulding High School boys ice hockey team like it hadn’t been tested in some time.

The Red Raiders finished the 2011 season with five consecutive losses, including a third straight first-round Division II playoff loss, this one at Oyster River. An injury to senior team catalyst Stephen Joyal precipitated that spiral.

Then they started the following season 1-5-2, a record of 1-10-2 over two years, and the frustration bubbled under the surface.

“The kids expectations were high ,” George said. “The work ethic did not meet the expectations.”

“It was frustrating, but we started figuring it out and getting on a roll,” said senior defenseman Drew Pepin, a captain and part of an experienced defensive unit that includes three seniors.

“We weren’t able to execute our plays at the beginning of the season,” said senior goalie Derek Scott, who has allowed just 15 goals in 10 D-II games. “We stuck with the system and fought through it. We had to be patient and we couldn‘t get down on each other.”

Since those dark days in early January of 2012, the Red Raiders have gone 17-4-1, including 9-0-1 this season. They ended last year going 8-4, which included a monumental 5-3 upset of No. 2 Merrimack on the road in the first round of the D-II playoffs — the program’s first playoff win since 2008.

“We started a new season with nothing on the slate (after going 1-5-2) and picked it up from there,” said junior captain Brent Phillips, the team’s leading point man this season with 24 (12 goals and 12 assists). Sophomore Justin Jewell is next with eight goals and six assists, followed by senior Zach Poisson with seven goals and five assists.

The elation of the Merrimack win was quickly dashed by a 3-0 loss to rival Dover in the semis, an ending that left the returning Spaulding players hungry to get back on the ice this season.

“That left a bad taste,” Pepin said. “Losing to Dover three times. We’re looking forward to seeing them this year; there is a revenge factor.”

There is also a pride factor. Spaulding wants to get back to where it was last decade when it made six D-II championship appearances in seven years, winning three titles. Well, that might be a reach, but the Red Raiders do want to return to the top tier of D-II and they are making the right moves to get there.

“The kids came in with a good work ethic,” George said. “The seniors have done a good job leading, and there’s a good supporting cast of younger players who can play.”

Using George’s defense-first philosophy, it’s working right now for Spaulding.

“Everybody is handling their roles,” George said. “We’ve got three seniors on defense, three seniors on the first line and three seniors on the third line, and senior goalie. Our seniors are pretty well spread out.”

That depth is very good, and with the seniors leading, the younger players have been able to fill their roles with confidence. In Saturday’s 9-2 win over Timberlane, sophomores accounted for seven of the goals.

But it all starts with the defense, led by Scott and the three senior defenseman: Pepin, Ben Williams and Brian Chick.

“We know what we need to do coming in,” Pepin said of the defense. “And the forwards are doing a good job coming back and we’re confident with Derek in net. We just need to go out and get the job done.”

That being said, George is quick to note that Spaulding has yet to play the other three teams in the top four with them: Merrimack (9-0-0), Bedford (7-1-1) and rival Dover (6-2-1). The Red Raiders host Merrimack Saturday night at 8 and then Dover on Wednesday.

“We’re not over confident,” Scott added. “We’ve got some great competition coming up. We just need to continue to do the little things right.”

Merrimack hasn’t lost since it fell to Spaulding in last year’s semis and has allowed just six goals in nine games, so Saturday’s game should have some extra intensity.

“They’re rolling,” George said. “They’ve got some good depth, some talented forwards and a solid goalie. It’ll be a very good matchup for us.”

George said the team has done a good job of preparing for this season with five exhibition games against D-I teams, including three in the preseason (two against top-six teams) and two games in the Manchester holiday tournament — a win over Hanover (5-2-2- in D-I) and a 4-3 loss in a shootout to Manchester Central (7-2-0), after trailing 3-0. Both those teams are in the top five.

“We’ve done what we’ve needed to do until now,” George said. “We just need to continue.”

Mike Whaley is the Sports Editor for Foster’s Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.